Tutti Matti Per L'italiano!

Today I am here to tell you about a fantastic new mobile app called “FlashAcademy”. It is the idea of the company behind FlashSticks – the company that created the app to learn a foreign language using the Post-it Notes. Now the app has a new interface and new images. Now it focuses on the progress of the student towards graduation from Flash Academy. Each lesson moves the student forward! The learning curve is fast paced with new interactive lessons.

My first novel “Dreaming Sophia” is here! I am thrilled and happy to share Sophia’s journey with my readers. The book is now available in print and e-pub versions for Kindle and iBook. You can find the book on Amazon and through many other distributors as well. The e-pub version of the book has links to the “Dreaming Sophia” website and Pinterest site, so that you can experience the book visually – see the art and images and videos – referred to in the book, as well as listen to the music. To win a copy of the book visit the Studentessa Matta website: http://www.studentessamatta.com/dreaming-sophia-book-give-away The book is available on Amazon and on itunes. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0997634804?ie=UTF8&creativeASIN=0997634804&linkCode=xm2&tag=diariodiunstu-20 https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/id1151283653 visit the Dreaming Sophia website: www.DreamingSophiaBook.com

In this Podcast I am talking about Italian words for joking and playing around...Scioglilingua, Giochi di Parole, Barzellette, Scherzi, Idiomi...Podcast can also be viewed on YouTube to see the visuals that accompany the text.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JrRccsRyt2g Visit the Matta Blog for text in English and Italian For transcripts for this Video follow this link: http://wp.me/p22bKE-3vi  

Happy Easter! They say in Italian…Christmas with your family, Easter with whomever you want! Today I am going to talk a little about Easter and some of the sweets that Italians eat at this time of year. I’m going to especially talk about Baci chocolates

Questo mese festeggiamo la giornata internazionale della donna…anche semplicemente detta "festa della donna". Ricorre l’otto marzo di ogni anno per ricordare sia le conquiste sociali, politiche ed economiche delle donne, sia le discriminazioni e la violenza che le donne ancora oggi subiscono in tutto il mondo. This month we celebrate International Women’s Day - or simply the la festa della donna. It falls on the 8th of March each year and commemorates both the social achievements, political and economic conditions of women, as well as the brings in evidence the discrimination and violence which women are subjected to still in all parts of the world.

Hi guys! I’m Melissa la studentessa Matta! Welcome back to my channel! Are you ready to take a little stroll into history with me…and Dante and Beatrice? Visit Matta Website for Translations: English & Italian http://www.studentessamatta.com  For translations for this Video click this link: http://wp.me/p22bKE-3t0 To learn more about Matta Italian Language Workshops in Italy http://www.studentessamatta.com/italian-trips/ Visit the Matta Facebook page for learning tips and language fun: http://www.studentessamatta.com/learning-tips/ Find me on Instagram: https://instagram.com/studentessamatta

Today I want to tell you about a painting…Botticelli's Birth of Venus - La nascita di Venere. Visit Matta Website for Translations: English & Italian https://www.youtube.com/c/StudentessaMatta_MelissaMuldoon To learn more about Matta Italian Language Workshops http://www.studentessamatta.com/italian-trips/ Visit the Matta Facebook page for learning tips and language fun: http://www.studentessamatta.com/about/

In this podcast I will be speaking with my friend Daniela Mancini!  Daniela is an Italian teacher at Scud’It in Rome. I had the immense pleasure of studying with Daniela last July during my language and painting program. Daniela is a lively and entertaining teacher. She has also written a book about the Subjunctive tense: Congiuntivo. Here she is to talk more about herself, her home town of Frascati, her hopes and dreams and what it is like to teach at Scud’It in Rome. See program notes in Italian and English on the Studentessa Matta Blog. www.studentessamatta.com

    Today I’m back with a new podcast in which I will be talking about a wonderful Italian city - Siena! Today my guest will be Sarah Mastroianni, a young woman who was raised in Toronto in Canada - the daughter of an Italian father and a Canadian mother. Several years ago, after traveling in Italy, she fell in love with Italy and in particular, the city of Siena. Now she considers Siena her adopted town. In this podcast you will learn more about Siena and Sarah will also talk about her work, about her experiences with the language, her love for Italy and especially her passion for Siena and her reasons for moving there!

  In today’s “Tutti per l’italiano” podcast we will be talking about Homestay Italian Language Vacations that are offered through the Matta Blog. Homestay Language vacations are a wonderful opportunity for you to travel in Italy and stay with an Italian teacher and their family. Nothing is more effective for learning a foreign language than to live in close contact with a tutor who is specialized in teaching their native language in the country where this language is spoken! You will become an integral part of the family, enjoying meals and domestic life, living like a true Italian. Spending an entire day in a family context, combining a few hours of “traditional” teaching to the many stimuli that daily life offers, is the most natural and less stressful way to make progress in learning a language.

  In this episode we are going to be talking about an on-line learning site called italki. It is an educational site that helps foreign language learners connect with on-line teachers and chat buddies. In today’s podcast I will talk a little about my personal experiences with the italki site and you will also hear from three Italian teachers all of whom I have met through the site. They are Francesca Mazza from Lucca, Maria Fusco from Napoli and Olivia Cini originally from Tuscany, but who is currently living in Malta.

  Buon giorno cari ascoltatori. Benvenuti! Welcome! Today we are talking about art & plein air painting and we will be hearing from Kelly Medford, an American artist who lives in Rome. Kelly is a wonderful artist and she teaches seminars on how to paint from nature using oils and watercolors. She also teaches us a new way of seeing and that art is personal experience that each one of us can develop and enjoy. I will also be discussing the upcoming "Matta" Language and Art Program that Kelly and I are planning together the first week of July 5-14th 2015.For more details on our Rome trip visit the Matta Blog. You can also find the text for “Tutti matti per l’italiano” in Italian and translated into English on the Studentessamatta site: www.studentessamatta.com. 

  Welcome to the second part of the 2-part podcast “C’è chi viene e c’è chi va”. Last week I began to speak about the differences between living in Milan and living in San Francisco. In the first part of the podcast we heard from Gloria an Italian from the Milan area who now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. In this second part of the podcast, we will continue to discuss the differences between San Francisco and Milan. In this episode we will hear from Christina an American from the Bay Area that has lived and worked in Italy. Both women, an American and an Italian, were transplanted into new culture in new and different countries than that which they were raised. They share similar qualities, of being independent and adventuresome, but obviously they have different and unique perspectives. They represent the flip side of the coin of living abroad as a foreigner.

  In this podcast we will be discussing the differences between Milan and San Francisco in a podcast that I’m calling C’è chi viene e c’è chi va - “Those who come and those who go" - the differences between Milan and San Francisco. We will hear form two women who are similar but different. Gloria is an Italian from Milan who now lives in San Francisco. Christina is an American from San Jose, a city very close to San Francisco, who used to live in Milan. Through their experiences and insights, we will explore the flip side of Italian and American life.

      In today’s episode we are talking about traveling to a foreign country for the first time and what it is like to live there for an extended period of time. We will be hearing from two young Italian girls - Antonella from Napoli in Campania and Marta from Lecce in Puglia. This past year both young Italian adventurers have travelled to the U.S and have lived in the states for several months. They will talk about their experiences, the things they discovered, the myths they dispelled, the things they liked and the things they missed about Italy.They also tell us about their future plans, and what they now want to do with their lives after having lived abroad in the United States.    

  ‘Tis the season to be merry and celebrate with friends the Christmas holidays and that’s just what we are doing! The “Tutti Matta per l’Italiano” holiday podcast is a collection of recordings made by 7 Italian friends from different parts of Italy in which they recall some of their favorite holiday memories. You will hear messages from Angelo in Tuscany, Lucrezia from Trieste, Claudio from Napoli, Monica from Venezia, Daniele from Rome, Laura from Napoli and last but not least, Pixie Dust from Roma. Along with my friends I wish you much joy, peace and happiness. Buon Natale! Buona Befana! May all your Christmases be white and full of Italian! 

In today’s podcast I will be talking about La Fortezza delle Verrucole - a castle that was built in the middle ages, in the high Garfagnana Valley, near to Lucca in Tuscany. This territory was divided and contested by two feudal lordships, the counts of Bacciano and the more powerful Gherardinghi who owned il castello delle Verrucole. The castle is currently being rennovated by a group of dedicated historians. I will talk about our visit and give you a little background about the fortress. Later in the podcast you will get the chance to listen to a short recording I made of native Italian speaker, Giulia Paltrinieri, a docent at the castel, who explains in more detail medieval customs and aspects of the castle and some of the attributes its medieval artifacts. She speaks both in Italian and provides an English translation of what she says. Buon Ascolto! 

  Ciao a tutti gli ascoltatori! Now that I have ventured into the realm of podcasting, I had this really cool idea: Wouldn’t it be great to have my own “Matta” theme song or "una colonna sonora" for the “Tutti Matti per l’Italiano” podcast! In this podcast I speak in Italian and describe the process of how I found a musician and created a song that would musically refect the objectives and the upbeat nature of the Studentessa Matta blog. I aslo premier my new theme song "Vivi, Sorridi, Divertiti!"

  In this podcast I present my small friend Davide. Davide has just turned eleven & this fall will begin middle school in Bardolino, on the banks of Lago di Garda. He is just a little guy, but has a lot of creativity and a big imagination! Recently I enjoyed a day trip with Davide and his parents to Gardone, to visit Villa Vittoriale, the home of the famous Italian poet Gabriele D’Annunzio. In this episode I will be talking about the outing and I will tell you a little bit about Gabriele D’Annunzio and explain why he and his villa are so important. You will also have the chance to hear for yourselves how creative my little friend Davide is, because when he returned home from our outing he was inspired to build something really impressive with his Legos. In a message he recorded he will explain to us more about his creation.

  I have just returned from a fantastic trip in Italy and just can’t seem to stop talking or writing about it. In this episode of Tutti Matti per l’Italiano I will be giving a brief overview of where I went in Italy and then I will be introducing you to three great friends that I had the good fortune of meeting during my long weekend in Rome. They are Keith Preble of Parola del Giorno and author of a new book “Il vero Italiano; your guide to speaking real Italian, Lucrezia Oddone of “Learn Italian with Lucrezia You Tube videos, and Claire who writes the blog: Runaway Day Dreamer. In this podcast I’m going to be speaking entirely in Italiano! So buckle your seat belts and get ready for a full immersion podcast!